CCRI wins $2.5M federal grant for manufacturing program

WARWICK, R.I. — The Community College of Rhode Island has been awarded a $2.5-million federal grant to prepare students for advanced manufacturing jobs, in an industry expected to grow over the next decade, according to U.S. Senator Jack Reed’s offic

WARWICK, R.I. — The Community College of Rhode Island has been awarded a $2.5-million federal grant to prepare students for advanced manufacturing jobs, in an industry expected to grow over the next decade, according to U.S. Senator Jack Reed’s office.

The money comes to CCRI nine months after most states won federal grant money set aside by the U.S. Department of Labor for states to expand skills training and to strengthen partnerships between community colleges and employers.

The federal labor department in September announced 57 grants totaling $474.5 million from a program called the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training grant program. The labor department had expected to award grants in all states to community colleges and eligible institutions that agreed to collaborate. However, no recipients were selected in Rhode Island and 11 other states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, according to the labor announcement at the time.

Since then, CCRI and the Rhode Island Office of Higher Education have been working together to write an application “that was competitive” for CCRI to win the money set aside for Rhode Island, said Daniel Curran, Reed’s deputy press secretary.

Reed, other political leaders and CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale expect to gather Monday morning at the college’s Knight Campus in Warwick to discuss details about the program that’s expected to help students earn both associate’s and bachelor’s degrees.